Vehicles, such as sport utility vehicles and light trucks, are often purchased because of their ability for towing other vehicles such as campers, recreational vehicles, boats, storage containers and the like. During normal operation of the vehicle, a conventional side rearview mirror allows the vehicle operator to view traffic at the rear of the vehicle. However, when the vehicle is being used to tow another vehicle and the vehicle operator wants to view traffic at the rear of the towed vehicle, a conventional side rearview mirror usually does not offer such a view, particularly when the object being towed has a wide width such as a boat or trailer home. One solution to the rearview vision problem when towing a load has been to provide an extended mirror mounting frame which holds the mirror far away from the lateral side of the towing vehicle so that the operator can observe the rear of their tow. However, extra-wide mirror mounting frames usually have a three-part support frame that must be permanently affixed to the vehicle, which is aesthetically undesirable. Quite often the features affecting its appearance are a critical factor in the decision-making process when purchasing an automotive vehicle. It is therefore desirable to provide an extendable mirror that closely resembles the appearance of a non-extendable conventional rearview mirror when the vehicle is not being utilized to tow.
It is also desirable to provide an extendable rearview mirror which not only can be manually positioned, but which can be tilted or pivoted along a horizontal axis to allow for easier adjustment by grabbing the housing without having to touch the mirror glass. It is also desirable to provide an extendable rearview mirror that has a sturdy construction and is inexpensive to manufacture.